Take My Breath Away

The woman widened her eyes in shock and asked in disbelief, "Where did they find you? Little young for a doctor, aren't you? I think you're pulling my leg."

While checking the patient's medical records, Sheffield took out his I.D. badge from his pocket, and showed it to her, holding it at eye level so she could see it.

If he weren't a doctor, why would he give a damn about her business?

There it was, as plain as day: Dr. Sheffield Tang, Nephrologist, Y City First General Hospital.

From his title, many people would know that Sheffield was the top kidney transplant surgeon. But today, he was facing an ignorant woman. "So you're a doctor. They made a big deal about you and made me wait for you to get here. I thought you were the president of the hospital! I want to see the director of your department! Find me someone who can tell me what's going on!"

At this moment, a woman's voice came from the hall. "So, you know he's a doctor, right?"

Everyone turned to look. A lovely, elegant lady walked into the room. When the woman haranguing Sheffield heard Evelyn's voice, her face stiffened. She opened her mouth but didn't say a word. The others wondered if she was biting her tongue.

Evelyn walked towards the woman and stared into her eyes. "Doctors save people's lives. I think people should have more respect for doctors, don't you? They're much better than the idle, lazy people who live off their parents. If you were dying and wanted to live, you would rely on the doctor's medical skills to save your life."

The woman knew what she meant more than anyone else. She knew Evelyn was referring to her son, but she had been put in her place and remained silent.

The doctors and nurses all looked at Evelyn with admiration!

Sheffield felt warmth spreading in his chest. For the first time, he knew the feeling of someone he loved having his back. He chuckled and said to Evelyn in a low voice, "Honey, it's okay. She's just upset." This woman was hardly the worst person he had to deal with.

Evelyn cast a reproachful glance at him. 'How can he be such a pushover?'

Sheffield wanted to mollify her. But he had more important things to do now, so he had to give up. "They'll need both dialysis and hemofiltration. Put the patient on oxygen and get the continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration machine ready. I'm going to check on him," he ordered.

"Yes, Dr. Tang."

The woman wanted to follow Sheffield, but Evelyn called out to her, "Nova Yu."

Hearing her say the name, Sheffield turned and said, "You two know each other?"

Evelyn didn't want to nod, but she had no choice. "Yeah."

"What a coincidence. I'm headed to the ward now." Before leaving, Sheffield glanced at Nova Yu, who fidgeted uncomfortably, and left without asking more.

"Miss Huo," Nova Yu said, playing with her lapels nervously. Staring at her with sharp eyes, Evelyn asked in a cold voice,

"How is Uncle Evander?" Evander Zhao was Nova Yu's husband.

"He... They say he has renal atrophy and the disease has reached the stage of uremia. So they're talking about kidney transplant surgery," the woman answered honestly.

Now Evelyn was certain Evander Huo was the patient Sheffield had rushed to the hospital for. "When did he figure it out? Why didn't you take him to a doctor before it got to that point?"

"I just knew it. You know, he can't speak. He won't tell me when he's in pain. What can I do?" Nova Yu felt wronged.

Even though Evander Zhao was mute, he smiled all day long, and he hid his feelings. No one knew what was going on with him.

Since his condition had gotten so serious, it was useless for Evelyn to blame anyone. "Listen to the doctors. If the kidney transplant surgery can save his life, do it."

'Have the kidney transplant surgery?' The older woman got anxious. "It's too expensive! There's no way I can cover that! Besides, he's lost both his kidneys! Even surgery is dangerous! I don't want to lose him, but I don't know if I can afford this."

Evelyn cast her a cold glance and asked, "What happened to the money Dad gave him?"

Realizing that she'd been backed into a corner, Nova Yu stopped arguing immediately. "Well...th-there is that!" she stammered.

"Which ward is he in?" Evelyn didn't want to say one more word to her. She knew that the money her father had given Evander Zhao must have been squandered by Nova Yu and her son again.

"Ward 3 and Bed 2."

Getting the answer she wanted, Evelyn turned and headed to Ward 3.

There were several doctors and nurses in the room. They focused their attention on Bed 2, watching Sheffield examine a middle-aged, skinny man.

The middle-aged man half-leaned against the bed, oxygen mask still in place, very cooperative while Sheffield did the examination.

After a while, Sheffield asked, "Where is the patient's family?"

Nova Yu, who was standing at the door, immediately walked in. "I'm here."

The patient's feet were so swollen that it was almost impossible to remove his socks. Without turning his head, Sheffield asked Nova Yu, "How long has he been swollen like this? Did he watch how much water he drank? How often and how much did he pee?" Sheffield checked the patient's medical records, but there was nothing there except the examination results from his last hospital visit.

Nova Yu couldn't answer the questions, because she had been too busy playing mahjong to have time to care about anything else. She didn't even know her husband had arteriovenous fistula surgery last month. Neither of them cooked at home, and they ate out separately. At last, she turned to ask Evander Zhao, "How long has this been going on?"

Evander Zhao held out two fingers.

"Two? Like two months?" Nova Yu asked.

Evander Zhao nodded.

A nurse read the results from the machine he was hooked up to. "Dr. Tang, 16 kg of water needs to be flushed from the patient's body."

"I see. Don't use the fistula in his left arm yet. We need to do a check-up tomorrow and then decide when to use it. When Dr. Xue comes, he needs to perform the intubation and start the CRRT."

A young nurse said sullenly, "Dr. Tang, the patient's wife doesn't want CRRT. She wants the patient on dialysis. She also requests a more public ward."

The fees for continuous renal replacement therapy were several times higher than for bog-standard dialysis. The cost for dialysis was several hundred dollars each time, but it might cost several grand or even tens of thousands for CRRT.

Sheffield glanced at Nova Yu, who was obviously embarrassed. "The patient is in a bad way. CRRT is highly advisable. We'll try it for 24 hours and see how it goes. If he gets better after that, he can be moved for ordinary dialysis."

"And if he doesn't get better after 24 hours?" Nova Yu asked.

"As near as I can tell, he needs two days of CRRT at most. After that, he can go downstairs and resume ordinary dialysis. We might be able to get him back home fairly quick if everything goes well. It's costly, but effective. Your husband's condition is pretty serious now and ordinary dialysis might not help. But it's your choice."

"I think ordinary dialysis is best. CRRT is too expensive!" The older woman had asked about the CRRT price tag. They charged by the hour. Evander Zhao needed to be on it at least 24 hours. She just didn't want to spend that kind of money on her husband. What was more, she believed that the doctors were exaggerating. That they were making up diseases to con her into spending more money.

Sheffield threw up his hands. "Then, fine. Put the patient on dialysis. Ready him to be moved, please." Just as Sheffield was about to arrange everything, Evelyn came over and said to him, "Wait a minute!"

The ward went quiet. The doctors and nurses who had recognized Evelyn looked at each other in shock, wondering why she was in the hospital.